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First day of deliberations wraps up Wed. in murder trial

Pictured is Josh Powell, right, facing first-degree murder charges, with his public defender, Katherine Flickinger, during the first day of the trial on Tuesday.

Public defenders plan to use ‘intoxication’ as a defense

Jon Lloyd

Staff Writer

Joshua Andrew Powell lowered his head when gruesome photos of his wife’s bloody face, post-mortem, were shown on the first day of deliberations of his first-degree murder trial in the Boone County Courthouse on Wednesday afternoon.

Powell, 29, is accused of killing his wife, Jaclyn Powell, and faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.

He has pleaded not guilty to killing his wife, who was found dead in the couple’s Ogden home on Oct. 21, 2012 shortly after 10 a.m. by Ogden Assistant Police Chief Tony Jones. He is being held in the Boone County jail on a cash-only $2 million bond.

In jury selection on Tuesday in District Court with District Judge Steven J. Oeth presiding – seven men and five women were picked, all dressed casually on Wednesday – Public Defender Maria Ruhtenberg said, “Joshua is responsible for Jaclyn Powell’s death. We are not here to tell you that he is not 100 percent not guilty. We’re here to tell you that this is not a murder situation.”

Ruhtenberg notified the court that Powell plans to use “intoxication” as a defense. Court records state the Powell told investigators that they had been drinking heavily the night before at a wedding reception.

In Wednesday’s deliberations, lead prosecutor Doug Hammerand, the state’s assistant attorney general, submitted dozens of photos as state’s evidence, including Jaclyn lying dead on the floor in a red robe, blood on the carpet of the couple’s home, and a broken cell phone that Powell apparently tried to throw away in his yard at 101 W. Cherry Street.

Hammerand, who is assisting Boone County Attorney Dan Kolacia, also submitted as evidence a dark green shirt that Powell had been wearing and was found by investigators soaking in a water and bleach solution in a bathroom sink and bags packed with clothing on the bed in the master bedroom.

Criminalist Victor Murillo, with the Iowa Division of Criminal (DCI) Investigation, told Hammerand that he and his partner Anna Young had taken the photos when they were called to the crime scene on Oct. 21 at 11 a.m.

A criminalist since 1985, Murillo said that while waiting for a search warrant for the home they “searched outside the house” also took photos and videos.

“We always take photos of the scene to document the scene,” he said.

Murillo and Young had taken the photos of Jaclyn, several rooms in the home, the bathroom with the shirt in the sink, which Murillo testified was plugged with a stopper and holding a water and bleach solution. They also found a broken Samsung cell phone in the yard.

“The victims’ body was between two large chairs and the sliding glass door of the south wall,” Murillo said.

As photos of Jaclyn were projected on a screen for the jurors, Powell lowered his head. A woman with blonde hair sitting behind the prosecutor’s table cried softly. The photos also showed blood on the carpet and on “a small children’s book,” Murillo said.

Called as a state witness and questioned by Kolacia, Jones said he responded to a call to the home for a “possible dead body” at 10:02 a.m. On arrival he found Powell sitting in the driveway between two garage doors against the house, crying and talking on a cell phone.

He said he asked Powell if he had called 911. Powell said “Yes,” Jones said. Jones said he then asked Powell to tell him what had happened.

“I think I killed her,” Jones told the jurors, who with pads and pencils listened intently to the testimony from four state witnesses during the afternoon.

Jones said that he found Jaclyn lying on the floor behind a chair in the living room next to a sliding glass door covered with blue and white curtains. The lights were off and it was dark, he said. From his experience as a police officer of 17 years, he said, she appeared dead.

Jones testified that Powell said they had been at a wedding the night before in Madrid and had gotten into an argument and that he had asked a friend of his about an affair Jaclyn may have had. They did not want a scene at the wedding reception and went home, Jones said Powell told him.

Jones said that Powell told him he tried to stop Jaclyn from leaving through the sliding glass door and she slapped him twice.

Jones said the Powell told him that he “remembers drawing back like he was going to hit her” and that he didn’t recall anything after that except going to a sink to wash his hands. Jones said Powell said he “panicked” and “thought about his kids in Ankeny” and he “thought of packing a bag for him and his kids.”

Powell left his home around midnight or 1 a.m., according to Jones’ testimony. Jones asked him if he had checked on his wife.

“He did not,” Jones said.

Ruhtenberg did not object to the submission by prosecutors of any of the photos.

Public Defender Katherine Flickinger, who is assisting Ruhtenberg, asked Jones about Powell’s condition when he found him.

“He was crying and very upset,” Jones said.

Flickinger asked if Powell had been cooperative and Jones said that he had. She noted that Powell was not handcuffed at the time and that he had asked permission to make some phone calls.

Asked by Flickinger about the argument, Jones said that Powell told him that he had put his hand up and “at that point she hit him in the face.”

“He stepped back and said, ‘You got to be kidding. You just hit me.’” She hit him again,” Jones said.

Boone County Sheriff’s Office Detective Andrew Godzicki testified about evidence that had been collected and where it was kept in the evidence locker in the sheriff’s office.

Court recessed about 4:30 p.m. The trial resumes at 9 a.m. on Thursday.